Kilmarnock boss, Derek McInnes, believes Simo Valakari is right to think St Johnstone still have a “real chance” of staying in the Premiership.
The manager who brought the Perth club back to the top-flight the best part of two decades ago can send them perilously close to dropping out of the division when his Killie team clash with Saints on Saturday.
But the current McDiarmid Park head coach’s positivity, despite the fact they are six points adrift of second bottom with only four matches left, isn’t hollow talk, according to McInnes.
“If I was the St Johnstone manager at the minute, I would still believe that I had a real chance,” he said.
“I feel that.
“When I hear Simo speak, he is full of belief and encouragement for his players to get a result.
“They’ll be thinking that if they can win the next couple of games, they’ll be right back in it.
“We’re well aware of St Johnstone possibly being in last chance saloon in terms of winning games.
“But we’re also aware that they can beat us on any given day, and they’ve shown that this season.
“And they can beat other teams.”
Attacking talent
The clean sheets have dried up for Saints after injuries took a toll on Valakari’s backline.
There are no issues up front as far as McInnes can see, though.
“They’re the type of team who get boys forward,” he pointed out.
“You’ve got to praise Simo.
“He’s got a big squad to choose from and sometimes you’re never really sure who is playing.
“They’ve got a couple of defensive injuries, but they’ve got good players, St Johnstone.
“A lot of Simo’s best players are attacking players.
“With that in mind, you normally see an attacking performance from St Johnstone. I firmly believe that will be the case.
“They’ll come at us and see this as a real chance. We’ve got to be ready to fight fire with fire.
“I watched their game at Motherwell and for long spells they were really good – really good in the game.
“This is a St Johnstone team who, a couple of games ago, beat Celtic.
“They’re capable of big moments in games and periods of games when they’re really difficult to contain.
“They’ll probably feel they lose too many goals, but they certainly don’t lack an attacking threat.”
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